Water wheel



Feb. 19, 1924.I 1,484,250 y J. L. BARNES WATER A WHEEL Filed Aug. 15. 1922 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Feb. 19, 1924;

J. L. BARNES WATER WHEEL #ma Aug. 15. 1922 4 Sheets-Sheet. 2

. @y-J7, Grimm-e143 Feb. 19, 1924. 1,484,250

J. l.. BARNES wuanwnr.. piled Aug, 15. 1922 4 sheets-sheet s (g1/munito@ v .Ba/vzw.

Feb. 19', 1924.

J. L. BARNES WATER WHEEL Filed Aug. 15 1922 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Feb. 19, 19.24o

JAMES marrants, or ros'roRIaoHIo.

` Y Aw'li'ifnn WHEEL.

T0 all whom t may concern.' y

. Be it known that I, JAMES vL B)A1nu3s,la citizen of the United States, residing at Fostoria, inthe county of Seneca and State of Ohio, have invented certainl new and useful j Improvements in'Water, Wheels, ofwhich y work under all kinds of conditions of a river.

It does not require a direct fall and eliminates the building of dams, although where a direct fall is obtainable, this wheel can. be

used for under and overdraft and will, 'in

this manner, not only utilize the power as the water strikes the. river "bed, Ybut may equally well use itanywhere 'between the top and' bottom of the fall. rent above, as well as below the utilized to drive the wheel., I Another advantage of this invention is that it will alsof'operate in streams where there isa strong under current, which may run in the same direction as the upper strata of the stream or in any other direction. As there may be several such currents, theycan be utilizedto a great advantage on a wheel of kthis character, owing to thesublnersibility thereof. The power of the wheel depends upon its diameter and the size and number of its buckets or Wings as well as the structure of the frame.

One eat advantage of thisy wheel resides in the act that the erecting cost and instalfall, may be i :lation thereof are very small; and another advantage of this wheelis its adaptability to diiierent types `of streams for"obtaining the desired power, in which case the use Vof a modified type of buckets and a suitable 'structure of the wheel frame-will be necessary obtainthe power-needed:

-Ajplicfion mea August- 15,#1922L serial Natsabe?.

.supports orhinges for the wings ;.Y

Moreover, the cur- The frame `or structure of'thiswheel can Y In f f Figure 1 shows a side elevationV of 'the V the accompanying drawings one `em bodiment of the invention is illustrated,`and

Wheel in its simplestlfo'rm and as used'for i light draft; l i Y Fig. 2 is atop plan View and partial 'section 0f Figure'l, alongv line 2,` -2.y i

Fig. 'isa perspective view of'someofithe details' shown fin Figs. 1 and 2; v

Figg 4 is'a'diagrammatic representationin side elevation of the structure of a large Fig. is a side used for wheels requiring stronger construction' f l 1 1 6 is a section along line 6,-6 of Fig. 5; Y Fig. 7 isa perspective view of one of' the '.Fig. 8 is a transverse section of 'a spoke WththeWlgs unfolded;

l e e 7 T05 elevation of the bracket Fig. 9*' isV a top planu'view of a'multiple Y wheel, and

fFig. 10 is a' perspective viewfof aradial.

arm with the wings unfolded.. c e The wheel in its simplestfori'n asi'llustrated in Figs. 1, 2, and 8 ctmlprisesY ahub 10 rigidlysecu-red on a shaft 11 whichisfcarried` in suitable bearings 12 and provided with a' pulley or gear wheel 13. The hub has a number of radial. spokes' 14 rigidly secured lthereon and each spoke has a pair of wings 15 mounted inV such Va mannerthat they might fold inwardly to lie substantially in a vertical plane ofthe wheel and to unfold or open outwardlyl to lie substantially in a radial plane of the wheel. VHowever, the wings do not unfold into a perfectly flat position but are preferably permittedto lform an obtuse angle with relationto veachother as seen in Figs. 8 and 1 0. Each win e is idly attached tol two vor morearms Sfrevolubly mounted onthe spoke 14, vwhi'rc'hfcarabutment .member l .This Vvmember' has a projecting Vabutment 34 foreach ofits 'adjacent Wings as seen in Figure 3. 'For'this purpose one abutment 34 extends to' one side of the bracket 30 and the other abutment to 95 ries, 'rigidly secured thereto, a bracket orv the opposite side thereof. ln` this manner theflat outer face'of each arm Y37 is adapted to lie'on its corresponding abutment y34: when in' unfolded position. .These brackets 'may will commence to fold, and the remaining wheel, n

wings will fold and make very slight resist-A ance,

wings on the right hand side will be folded.V

In this manner the wings to the left, or in unfolded position, will set up a resistance against the current of the water, so that the latter will impart a revolving action to the when lifted out of thewater. VIncase theV wheel is entirely submerged,

- the same action on the wings will occur'except that the wings on the descending side will remain folded a little longer or until lnearing the horizontal position.

u For greater power and larger wheels a strongerconstruction will be required, than whatV is shown 1n the first three figures just described and by` referring to Figure 4 the construction for such a wheel will be understood. This construction is in the form of a spider web having inner andouter .sections bordered by radial spokes 2O which are preferably braced by means of transverse braces 21, in this manner dividing the wheel into a hub section 22, an intermediary section 23 and an outer section 24. It will be evident that the number of sections may be multiplied as required.

The hub section 22 is formed in the same manner as already described with regard to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 andthe outer sections are formed by extending the spokes to the outer periphery of the wheel and in the intermediary and outersections are inserted radial bars 25 secured on the braces 21 as seen in Fig. 4. On the spokes in each section are now secured. 1n the same manner as has already Vbeen described, a pair of wings 26 and rsimilar wings 27 are secured to the radial bars 25. It will now be evident that every spokeand every radial bar will carry one or more pairs of wings, which are of a suitablewidth so as not Vto interfere with each other, when folding or unfolding.

In Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10 are shown details of a preferredV construction for mounting the wings on the wheels, a similar construction having already been described :in connection Ywith Figure 3. In this case a .bracket f3() of segmental contour is rigidly secured on Veach Y spoke or bar 31.` This bracket has segmentalpockets or recesses 32 with radial side walls 33 and 34 adapted to abut respectively with the side of the wings in folded and unfolded positions. A-.s seen while when such action has ceased, the.

In Fig. 7 is shown the type of hinge 37 preferably 'provided forV a heavier con-VY structed wheel. This hinge consists of a nave portion 35 embracing the spoke or radial arm so as to be able to swing around the same. At one side of the nave portion 35 extends a flat arm 36 tovwhichvthe-wing 15 is secured by means of rivets or bolts or in any other suitable manner. The wings are assembled, together Vwith theirhinges 37, in such a manner that the flat Vsidesof they wings or vhinges will contact with one ofthe radial walls 33 or 34 provided on the brackets 30 secured on'the spokesorradial arms when in folded and unfolded position, respectively. Y

The frameworkV the wheel consisting of spokes,braces and radial bars, is preferably built of metal tubing or solid metallic rods, or even of wood,

and the wings may bejconstructedofsheet or spider construction' of metal or wood and built in one piece or composedof a number of narrow stripsor ribs. The hub of the wheel, as well as the brackets and hinges, areV preferably vmade Yof malleable cast iron'or of steel.

e In Fig.r 9 is shown va constructionzof-a wheel suitable for shallowV streams or'slow currents. In this case the ldiameterfof the wheel is limited and it is accordingly pref- -erable to extendit in axial direction-using aplurality of pairs of wings placed side by si e.

Radial frames 40 are therefore provided having end spokes 41 connected by longitudinal bars 42 at their outer ends and by similar bars 43 near the main shaft 44.k 'i

Hubs 45 for the outer spokes 41 are rigidly secured as at 46 on the main shaft 44. Intermediary spokes 47 extend between the inner and outer bars 43, 42 and wings 15 are mounted to oscillate on said spokes through l the intermediary of'hinges 37 and brackets 30,.as already described. vIt is obvious that the length ofthe frames 40 and the number of wings carried in each frame is ,practically unlimited. Y

It will also be evident that instead of using long frames containing several spokes and as many pairs of wings, as illustrated in Fig. 9, a similar wheel may be built up of a plurality ofv wheel unitsillustrated in 'M Fig. 2, assembledV side by side ona common main shaft and that the scope ofthe claims is intended to cover bothrconstructions.

Having thus described the invention,

what is claimedV as new is: l A water wheel comprising a hub, .spokes radiating from the hub, pairs of wings hava ing hinge members engaged with the spokes, of and each defining divergent Walls proand segmental brackets secured upon the jecting into the paths of the hinge memspokes between adjacent hinge members, said bers and adjacent portions of the Wings to 1 brackets being provided in their opposed limit the swinging movement of the Wings.

5 sides'with pockets extending in opposite dil In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

rections from the central radius of the j 4 bracket toward the side edge portions there- JAMES L. BARNES. [L. 5.] 

